Setting Family Goals

It seems with a new year, that everyone is busily setting resolutions or goals to accomplish within the next 365 days. Most of these goals and resolutions are personal. But setting goals as a family is just as important. And the best part of setting family goals is that you do not need to wait for the new year to begin. You can set family goals at anytime of the year and just work toward completing them as a team.

One of the best ways to set family goals is to do it during family home evening. This is a great time to discuss where your family is spiritually and where you would like to go as a family. It is important to discuss this openly and to make sure that everyone in the family has the opportunity to share their opinion. Every person should feel that their opinions are valid and important. Be sure to listen closely to each family member. You may learn some very important things about each person. And when you really listen, each family member will be more open to communicating openly, which is extremely important in your relationships.

As a family, determine what you would like to work on together. When the entire family makes this decision together, it helps the team move forward in their goal. When someone wants to not work on the goal, there will be someone else to act as the cheerleader and encourager. This role will change from person to person as the person who encouraged the last time might be the one who needs it next time.

Remember that your family goals do not need to be complicated. They can be simple. Last year, my family set the goals to read our scriptures together every single day and have family prayer daily. We set the goal of only reading two chapters per day. We accomplished far more than we ever dreamed we could with this very simple goal. We were able to read through the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, The Family Proclamation, The Living Christ, and half of the Old Testament. We found ourselves discussing the scriptures more by only setting a goal of two chapters per day. If the first chapter we were reading was extremely long, (i.e. 70 to 100 verses long), we only read one chapter that night. But we read three chapters the next night. And if the chapter was extremely short,(i.e. 4 to 9 verses in length), we read three or four chapters. Our overall average was two chapters a night for the year.

I am pleased to say that we did not miss a single day all year. Sometimes it took some creativity to make our goal happen. When my husband was out of town on business, we would gather around the cell phone at night and read and pray together that way. When we were tired and didn't want to do it, inevitably, one family member would be the encourager and it made all the difference.

We took the opportunity to evaluate our progress this past year and we are ready to keep moving forward together. We have set new goals together and I know that we will work hard to achieve them together as a family.

Setting family goals teaches children that goals are important and that they take work to achieve. It helps them to learn how to set goals and how to work to achieve them. Setting goals as a family is also a great opportunity to teach children what is important in your family. This will be invaluable to them as they face the world and are able to utilize the tools you have been able to teach them. This will help them to succeed and overcome the distractions the adversary will place in their path. They will learn to be strong and turn to the Lord in times of trial.